Most Pune driving schools are 3rd class

RTO survey reveals that over 80 per cent of such schools are way below standards

RTO survey reveals that over 80 per cent of such schools are way below standards

Reckless driving claimed three lives in the Dive ghat bus accident on Monday and left 20 injured. A recent survey by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Pune, which measured the quality of training imparted in the city's driving schools, offers some clues on why such accidents on the rise.

Not good enough
Laxman Darade, deputy commissioner, RTO, says, the survey found that 80 per cent of driving schools in the city are not good enough to train others. "There are 190 driving schools in the city, and only 32 qualify as Class A or Class B training centres. About 100 driving schools qualified for Class C. The remainder have been clubbed under Class D, and have been served notices to shut operations as they are too bad to teach anyone."

Classification
The driving schools have been thus classified according to parameters laid down in a recent government of Maharashtra circular.

"It is a point-based grading system. Those who earn above 75 are classified as Class A. Those below 60 are Class C and the ones that score less than 50 are asked to shut shop," added Darade.

Baba Shinde, a senior member of the Road Transport Authority, said that the survey deserves to be taken seriously.

"If a driving school is ill-equipped, what kind of drivers will it churn out? In a bid to make money, they just enroll any number of students and impart shoddy training. This has led to rising number of accidents," said Shinde.

Bad drivers
Road safety activist and member of steering committee of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Chandmal Parmar, said the quality of driving schools was among the issues that are being discussed at the national level.

"Unscrupulous driving schools often issue licenses within a month without bothering to impart any training.

There should be government-operated driving schools at the state level that impart quality training. A few such schools have already come up in some areas."

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